For me the pace worked and the character development was great. This was such a different take on the genre and I liked how the characters especially Robert grew and then it fitted in well with the original story.

However for me the highlight of the audio was the narration, Craig Bowles just adds to the book. I just devoured the book and had to keep listening at all times - helped with the current English weather. So a combination of the story and the narration worked perfectly.

So recommend the audio narration to this book.

I was given a free copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

An apocalyptic coming-of-age story! Young Robert Ashton and his partner Zilv are barely making it in a dangerous city. Pollution, crime, disease run rampant. Society begins to crumble, slowly getting worse and worse. Anyone who is left begins to move to the underground sewer system to survive.

Once zilv takes ill, Robert knows what he has to do whatever it takes. Grotesque, human monsters troll the city, killing anything in their path. How will Robert survive? Will he even want to?

🖊Published June 21, 2022

🤔Review: Quite a realistic dystopian end of civilization drama! I loved the sci fi aspect of the fall of society. The beginning was a bit slow but that’s almost required reading while the author builds the world up. Robert and Zilv’s relationship was a little *too* perfect, i can’t imagine a perfect relationship during an apocalypse. Too mushy.

But the details were wonderful. The descriptions of the monsters were horrific. I loved it! I also enjoyed the main characters growth, going from an innocent boy to a hardened man, desperately trying to survive.

Of course in true post apocalyptic fashion, not everyone survives!

This book was a little graphic on the death scenes and things like that. I liked how in some instances they banned together to survive. How they worked together to get the supplies they needed and how to make new things to help them survive.

Abandon Us
by E.T. Gunnarsson
a Grim look at humanity and its discourse. the survival of a single man after a second civil war. The triad division of humanity, those who are fascisms, socialist, and capitalists. Destroying the cities, the demoralized economy, with back and forth battles. The war extinguished only with the nuclear invasion by China of the divided nations. This ends the world entirely, the marginal environmental recovery is extinguished. mankind is left to mutate, and battle with the remnants of cultures. One man looses his job, his freedom, his choice, his love and even the people he cares about. Its a sad recourse of humanity, and the fault of our own choices.

This was an adventure that felt too familiar to COVID. There is a disease that is killing people. There air is toxic. Everyone is forced to wear gas masks. Jobs have been taken over by machines. Humans are trying to survive. But there are some who do not want to change. There are wars and drug smuggled as well as death and scavenging.

This was a fun read
An apocalyptic environment making me think zombies are coming next

I was given an ARC Audio book for an honest review, which is much appreciated. This book is a prequel to the authors first novel, which I haven’t yet read… but guess what book is now on the top of my “To read” list! I enjoy a good apocalypse story, and this book did not disappoint. The best part, it wasn’t like many others I’ve read. No big manly main character with a military background to save the day! Just regular humans trying to survive. The main character moves from an eastern city dweller to what seems like the deserts of the southwest. Much like ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy, you’re never really sure what part of the country the characters are in. The pace of the book was excellent, the characters are realistic, and you find yourself hoping they’ll find a Utopia, all the while knowing they won’t! I look forward to going back and reading the sequel. We’ll done!